It's easy to omit museumsWhen doppios and Perugino chocolatesslide down like liquid silkAnd Italian words in coffee shops caress sound wavesinto a massage that starts at the tip of your toesWhere born-again feet have been converted to baby soft by the finest leather sandals from a street stall
The clop-clop of hooves hitting cobbled streets quickens the heartbeatEach church bell chime climbs the ladder of your spineAnd the strings on a street mandolintie you up in ancient bondage with BotticelliDante and Da Vinci
It's Michelangelo though responsible for your labored breathingBecause you've just run your hand up David'smarbled leg muscle in the piazza around the cornerAnd you can still feel the flush spreading from palm to pelvis
But you can't linger in the longingbecause another kind of hunger leads youby the nose to a next-door trattoriaTo crostini, filet mignon with porcini and truffle sauceparmigiano risotto, tiramisu and two glasses of BrunelloOver which you start talking to Puccini, Verdi and Rossini
Soon you are seeing with x-ray transparencythe tight Tuscan sunned bodies brushed with olive oilbursting their Prada, Armani, Gucci and Fendi restraintsAnd with weakened knees and winged headyou try to rise to return to your hotel Or was it a hostel or a houseboat or a B & B Maybe that remodeled convent you considered . . .

From Stroking David's Leg (Foothills Publishing, 2009).
Used here with the author's permission.

Ellaraine Lockie is a widely published and awarded author of poetry, nonfiction books and essays. Her collection,Where the Meadowlark Sings, won the 2014 Encircle Publication’s Chapbook Contest and was published in early 2015. Other recent work has been awarded the 2013 Women’s National Book Association’s Poetry Prize, Best Individual Collection fromPurple Patchmagazine in England forStroking David's Leg, winner of the San Gabriel Poetry Festival Chapbook Contest forRed for the FuneralandThe Aurorean'sChapbook Spring Pick forWild as in Familiar. Ellaraine teaches poetry workshops and serves as Poetry Editor for the lifestyles magazine,Lilipoh.She is currently judging the Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contests for Winning Writers.A resident of Sunnyvale, California, Ellaraine is also a professional papermaker who has worked with community projects in that capacity in South Africa and for various U. S. businesses. A video featuring her poetry, handmade papers, and handbound books can be seen here.

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rhonasheridan:
The more I read it the better it gets.Posted 11/15/2014 01:02 AM

erinsnana:
I've been to Tuscany, and you brought me back!Posted 11/06/2014 11:16 AM